Your first treatment can be a bit of a nerve wracking experience, whether you have had massage before or not. This is usually because of the unknown variables (first experience with massage in your home, first time having a male therapist work on you, first time getting myofascial release work done on you, etc.). Read on – we are here to put your mind at ease!

After Booking:

Shortly after your first appointment is officially booked you will get an email containing your intake form / health history. This should be filled out with as much detail as possible. It will help your therapist to safely and effectively work towards your goal(s) for the treatment.

Depending on how far away from your appointment it was booked you will receive zero to two reminder email notifications of your upcoming appointment.

Preparation & Planning:

On the day of your appointment your therapist will likely arrive 5-10 minutes early to setup their massage table and get it ready with the clean linens. While they are doing this (or immediately afterwards) they will talk with you about your health concerns and goals for the treatment.

Certain special testing and assessment may be done (such as cervical / neck mobility testing after a car accident). And then together you will develop a treatment plan that suits your goals and also accommodates the specific length of your appointment.

Your therapist will then switch on music and leave the room to go and wash their hands (cleanliness is very important in the healthcare industry). While they are gone you will get onto the table either face-up, -down, or on your side. This positioning will depend on many factors which would have been discussed during the planning part from above. Meaning that your therapist will have instructed you prior to them leaving the room on which position to be in.

There will be a fitted sheet between the massage table and yourself. Then on top of you there will be a flat sheet (like in a bed), as well as a blanket on top of that to help with warmth and provide extra comfort.

You do not need to be fully naked with your treatment – and in most cases people leave their underwear on. Keep in mind that clothing can hinder the effectiveness of the treatment depending on the type of massage work being done (i.e. sports massage can be done over clothing whereas swedish massage techniques use gliding and swooping motions which require oil).

The bottom line, though, is that you should only be undressed to your comfort level. If you are uncomfortable taking a bra off, then don’t. Your therapist can work around the straps.

The Treatment:

Depending on your issues / concerns there may be some discomfort with your treatment, but rest assured that your therapist will always be working at the appropriate level of your tissues to move towards your treatment goal(s). During the treatment you should do your best to stay as relaxed as possible (meaning not helping to move around your extremities when you therapist is working on them) as well as not holding your breath!

Doing deep breathing into your abdomen (known as diaphragmatic breathing) will help with any discomfort that you may feel as this is a natural way to manage pain, as well as make the treatment a bit more effective due to your bodies more relaxed state.

At the end of your treatment your therapist will exit the room to wash their hands again, and will wait for you to call them back once you are dressed again.

Before getting off of the table though you should take a minute to just lay there; if you sit up too fast you may get a rush of blood to or from your head resulting in you feeling light headed. No quick or jerky movements should be done to get dressed quickly as this may aggravate the newly relaxed or rehabilitated areas.

Whats Next?

After your therapist returns, they will show you some homecare to enhance the effectiveness of your treatment. This should help in your quest for better health as well as to hopefully help to prevent the need for another massage appointment very soon.

Even as a business, our goal is to provide you and your body with the means to heal and help itself. We are not in the business of getting people to unnecessarily have appointments that are serving little to no purpose with them or their bodies.

However, if you are curious on when you should be re-booking an appointment (if necessary) you should consult with your therapist. They will know how your tissues respond and will be able to give you the most accurate information based on how the treatment progressed.

Here are a few things to know about your body post-treatment:

— with regards to range of motion increases: if you are not utilizing that new range, you are going to lose it again.

— you should try and be a bit more active; i.e. going for a 10 min walk around your neighbourhood. The purpose is more to not be sedentary (which can cause the last point from above, or shortened muscles that were released to re-tighten).

— you may get a headache, depending on the work that was done (most notably with neck and shoulder work, but this is more based on how much your therapist flushed the tissues afterwards).

— post-massage soreness can last up to three days, but two days is the norm with therapeutic treatments. If you are sore for longer than three days you likely just had too deep or vigorous of work (or rather more than was necessary).

— you should try and have a snack and drink an extra glass or two of fluids (does not have to be water specifically, just something to help re-hydrate your tissues).